NOVEL NEXT Chapter 54: What used to be Paris.
Chapter 54: What used to be Paris.
“Do we have everything we need?”
“Yes Sully. We’re good.”
“Right. Good. Wait. Where did all the water go?”
“I decided to leave it behind.” Charlie answered.
I stared at him.
He shrugged.
“What? The Excursion screen said we’d have a time limit of 15 hours. You have enough bottles in your ring. Besides, we all have bottles on our rings. We won’t run out.”
“We won’t. But we’re not looking out for ourselves, are we? Who knows how many people in that earth need water?”
I shook my head again. Shuddering at the thought of coming across a starving, dehydrated community that we couldn’t help in any way.
“The backpack stays on.” I finished.
“No.” He persisted. “You’re being too paranoid. Again. Each of those bottles is an item from the store. There is enough water to last us a week in every single one. I am not lugging around an actual backpack through who-knows-where. Go obsess over something else. I hear Peachy has new things for sale.”
“Two more bottles.” I insisted. “Two more bottles strapped to your Symbiote and I’ll leave you alone.”
He gave me a look, but ordered his suit to remodel itself regardless.
“Thank you. I’m sure whomever we end up saving will be eternally grateful.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I left him to his own preparations, making my way over to Peachy as he’d suggested. She was sitting in a relatively unused corner of the Warehouse, as always. Keeping a vibrantly-decorated table between herself and the rest of us.
In front of it was a hovering sign whose letters would change depending on who was looking. Always appearing as:
“System Vendor.”
There was usually a line in front of here, as either Jacob or Mr. Park came and went. Asking about the process of making items and putting them up for sale using the System-ensured venue.
Now though, it was quiet. As the many shelves along the Warehouse were devoid of people. Some would be out hunting or mapping other areas. Others would be searching for high-priority targets in the form of wandering bosses or Randall and Anezka. Trying to find any clues as to their whereabouts.
The efforts had yielded some results, since we’d discovered several brand-new biomes like the waterfall chambers or the poison swamp. All of which had brand new creatures to train against and even some special objectives associated with them.
No signs of Randall or Anezka had been found however.
A fact that made me more and more worried as the days went by.
‘Its fine man. They have to be here somewhere. We’ll handle them. Focus on Peachy for now. Maybe she has something new for sale.’
There was always a chance of that happening. The robed crow had explained that her inventory grew the more reputable she became. A change that would only happen the more sales she made.
‘Not that we could tell the difference. She and Granny look more or less the same.’
She herself claimed to be much younger than Granny Golden. Some younger granddaughter of Orphan Maker who had been sitting on a long waitlist to try and become an official Salesperson. Apparently, the position came with many lucrative opportunities and certain guarantees that hardly anyone else received. Such as a general ban on aggressive behaviour aimed at them.
She had been ecstatic when she’d first appeared. Thanking all of us individually and loudly proclaiming that she must have been the favourite of Orphan Maker’s line. It would seem that the strings he pulled to get her down here were not insignificant. To the point where only promising heirs could hope for such a chance.
She was flapping her wings whilst hopping up and down. Relishing the notion.
“I didn’t know he loved me so much!” She’d said. “My mother was a concubine and my father’s mother was one too! I didn’t even realize he knew my name! I’m so happy!”
That was when we explained the terms of our, little accord.
The exact moment that she took a closer look at her screens.
It would seem that Orphan Maker’s request was granted with an additional caveat. Every single aspirant that happened to be above her on the waiting list would have a chance to review the details of the posting, including my status, before choosing to either take her place, or decline in favor of her.
Furthermore, she wouldn’t receive this information, since it was her own grandparent making the recommendation and giving her such a… desirable opportunity.
Almost four million Espers from a variety of species had a chance to come here.
All of them declined.
Peachy was not thrilled at the news. In fact, Peachy had a bit of a mental breakdown after the fact.
That was old news however. The two of us got along famously these days.
“Hello Peachy!” I called out from across the hall. “How are you doing today?”
“Sully! Why, I’m almost bursting with happiness! Just like every other time I see you. I’m so happy I could cry!”
A closer inspection revealed that she had, indeed, been crying. The feathers around her eyes glistening with the tell-tale wet spots.
On closer inspection, she was starting to cry some more as I made my way closer to her. Bowing so low that her beak pecked the stone floor beneath her.
“Ah, honored Savant. How may this humble servant be of assistance to your magnificence?”
“I’m looking to buy an item. One that can let me carry more supplies like food and water.”
Her head did not rise from her bow, yet the ensuing confusion was apparent through my fog.
“Have you, not bought enough bottles?”
Then she froze. Her mind suddenly overcome with a fresh wave of horror as she imagined me sending fishhooks behind her eyes.
“But what am I saying!? Haha! I swear! I must be going senile! Of course, your esteemed excellency couldn’t possibly make such a mistake! Clearly your magnificent intelligence has allowed you to glimpse a future that I cannot fathom. Yes, yes. That must be it. Oh, I am so sorry your wonderfulness. Please forgive this lobotomized imbecile her uncouth transgressions once more. My brain is made of soggy leaves and my blood is ever so impure compared to your own astonishing essence. Yes. Oh, I don’t know how someone as lowly as me can even stand to be in the presence of such perfecti….”
“Okay enough. Water container. Food container. Now.”
She trembled. Her legs turning to jelly. Falling beak-first into a supplicating position.
“EEEEEEE!!! Please don’t enslave me! Please don’t enslave me! Please don’t enslave me!”
“Hey! Stop that! I am not evil!”
She didn’t stop. Not for another three or four minutes.
Then, (Gnome)ing Ryan came along and calmed her down without any issues whatsoever.
He actually managed to get her smiling for a second. Until he noticed the expression I was making. All color fled from his face and he quickly excused himself.
“Right then. Storage items.”
“Yes, uh.” She coughed into a clawed hand. Her robes saturated with dust after her fresh round of begging.
“I’m sorry. Oh, great and mighty Savant. This worthless merchant doesn’t have anything else to show you. My options are far more… limited, than what a veteran like Granny Golden had on offer. I sold you the bottles because they were the best things I had for your, predicament. Yes, they’re basic, but they can be stored inside subspace items like your rings. Most other enhanced containers cannot be stored within each other. I…. I would need roughly ten years’ worth of transactions before I had access to things like, portable aquariums or portable fish farms. These things take time.”
I schooled my face. Not wanting to have to deal with another round of apologies.
“Is there anything new that you do have?”
“Yes! Here! I have this reusable skin brush!” She took out a sand-coloured rag attached to a wooden pole. “I hear primate species like your own love grooming themselves. This item will no doubt allow you to charm and mate with many females, as is your custom. It works by continuously applying a level 1 version of [Regeneration] and [Metamorphosis]. Removing bruises, rashes, blemishes, burn scars, collections of pus, allergic irritations, and other damages to the soft skin of your species. It also removes pollutants and the smells they cause, as well as any mundane odours the user dislikes without using up water or cleaning chemicals. That way you can groom yourself while away from the showers in the safe zone. I’ve sold three dozen so far and my costumers seem to like it. Isn’t it great?”
She waited for my reaction. Shivering slightly when I didn’t show any. A realization dawned on her then. Striking more fear into her heart.
“Not, that, your esteemed skin is anything short of excellent of course. Or that you have trouble mating. That would be a terribly silly to suggest. The kind of thing entire species get enslaved over. My, is it getting hot in here?”
“How much?”
She blinked in surprise.
“Wha…?”
“I asked you how much they were.”
“T-Three hundred store tokens per piece!”
I nodded with satisfaction.
“I’ll take ten.”
“Ten? Why would you? You only need one.”
“Yes. I only need one. But I might come across people in my Excursion who need several. This item doesn’t use up water for cleaning and it can remove bruises and burns while also disinfecting surface level wounds. It will literally save lives in the right hands. I’m not buying more because I’m working with limited space. Now, make the sale.”
We exchanged tokens and parted ways. With me going back to my team and her prostrating herself once again so that she could thank me properly.
‘Man, that got old fast. I hope she stops doing that sooner rather than later.’
“Did you get your shopping done?” Monique asked.
“I did. Bought a brush.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, I bought a few for the other survivors back home. Handy thing, to be able to wash out wounds without using water. Also, the smell gets to you faster than you could imagine. Me giving those out will make those big gruff guys back at camp cry like there’s no tomorrow.”
Slab cut in, walking between us.
“We’ve all finished the preparations on our end. Waiting for your signal.”
“I’m good. Send us over.”
His eyes went back to his screen and his finger hovered over empty air.
System Excursion:
Team: The Good Guys, has embarked on an Excursion.
Objective: Defend the populace of Paris from monsters. This Excursion will be considered a failure if more than 2, 000 humans perish due to monster attacks or through the direct or indirect intervention of Team: The Good Guys.
Bonus Objective: Clear the area surrounding Paris of monsters.
Time Limit: 15 hours.
Deaths: 0 / 2, 000.
Excursion to Earth: NDRL 2411 is underway.
The shimmers returned. Enveloping all of us at once and spiriting us away.
When they vanished, we were standing atop a hill made up of ruined buildings. I could tell they had been buildings, because there were still signposts in sight and because some walls remained upright.
Otherwise, it was indistinguishable from a natural hill along the countryside. Flowing meadows spreading out in every direction, with trees and patches of wild flowers jutting out from the patches of fertile earth.
It was a strange contrast, seeing those things next to broken down roads. Like noting strips of dead skin on an otherwise healthy patient.
Not that the roads were intact. Far from it. Roots had torn them up at varying locations. Ripping concrete apart as easily as a man would a sandwich.
Some of those trees were about normal height. Others still would have given modern skyscrapers a run for their money.
“We’re home.” Dusty sighed. Failing to keep the emotion from her face. “We’re on the surface. For the first time.”
Slab placed a hand on her shoulder and the two of them shared a moment in silence.
“Not yet.” He whispered. “This won’t be our home until it has been cleansed. Until the monsters are all dead.”
“Speaking of monsters.” Monique began, turning to me while she spoke. “What’s the situation?”
“Not bad at all. Well, relatively speaking. All the people I’m sensing are living in pretty rough conditions. They’re safe though and they seem to have enough food and water.”
“What are we supposed to stop then?” Boris asked. His ears twitching with every passing gust of wind.
“Probably the swarm of giant humanoid fireflies coming from that direction.” I pointed. “The one currently tearing itself apart under my orders. They’re roughly six and a half kilometres away? Or, they were. When there were still thousands of them. A few hundred were flying above my fog and got away, so those would be the targets.”
I lightly tapped my foot on the ground. Buddy’s red astronaut form contrasting with the greens and browns of the surroundings.
“There are also a lot of critters below us. Like, a lot. Tens of thousands distributed between a deep cave system. The people are about, 2 kilometres deep. Living in a wide spherical dome with two exits that connect to the rest of the caves. They have a mushroom farm and even what looks like a ranching operation with a giant frog or something to that effect. I’ve left the people alone while I took control of all the monsters near them. The ones closest to the surface should be breaking through the earth any moment now. The ones near the settlement will be going there instead. I’ll kill them with [Heart Attack] so that the folks down there can take the meat.”
Charlie whistled. Obviously impressed.
“Right then. Sounds like its all taken care of. I’m still a bit sore from training so I’ll lay down over here and take a nap if you all don’t mind. It’s been a while since I’ve seen an actual sky and I want to cherish it.”
“No.” Slab and Dusty said at once.
She grimaced. Sweat pooling on her forehead, while he explained.
“The Luminescent Parade usually stays near the Alps. Where their queen lairs. These fireflies are a menace like no other. Emitting continuous bursts of radiation wherever they go. Its so bad that even clans nestled deep underground become irradiated. Their skins falling off like pulpy meat from stack of ribs. We have to stop them while we’re here.”
“Uh, we did stop them. Or, Sully did anyway. I highly doubt anything’s getting to your buddies down below.”
“Not right now, but they’ll be back. They always come back. What little trade happens between clans across the continent brings news from the Great Devourers. The parade is among the worst. The most destructive. We have a chance to stop it right now. We can kill all of them. Here and now.”
“Sounds good to me!” I said, cheerful at the prospect. “The objective only said we’d fail if enough people died. It didn’t say anything about moving somewhere else. I say we hop on their back and… oh. Right. Radiation. (Gnome).”
I scratched my head. Trying to think of a way around this.
“Hey Charlie, you have [Absorb Radiation] don’t you?”
“I do.” He frowned. “But I don’t think it means what you think it means mate. It lets me drain the light inside any given room. I use it to blind monsters for a few seconds. I’m getting the feeling that you lot are talking about something else.”
I sighed. Bringing a palm to my face.
“Right. Of course you wouldn’t know. Think of radiation as you would the normal light that you see. It comes in waves and envelops you when you walk into an area with lots of it. Except you can’t see it. And it kills you. Quickly, if you’re lucky. Slowly, if you’re not. It’ll accumulate in the ground, the grass, the trees, the air the animals that eat the grass and the animals that live in the trees. It’ll build up in everything that eats those animals too. Over time you might get Cancer. That’s when your cells, the little bits of life that make up a body, start refusing to do their job. So, you’ll get tumors, growths of poisoned flesh inside of you that will choke out your lungs, your heart, your liver, your stomach, basically anything they can get a hold of. Then they’ll get bigger and bigger until your organs start failing one after the other. All while you’re powerless to stop it without poisoning yourself further with some really nasty drugs that make you bald, among other things. The idea being to kill the rotten parts of you faster than they can regenerate, with the added side effect of killing you much faster too, in the hopes that the Cancer dies before you do.”
Charlie’s face had gone chalk white, and I hadn’t even gotten to the bad parts yet.
“Radiation also stays in an area for a long time. Contaminating anything around it for, decades, centuries in the worst cases. It could be affecting you or those you love without you even knowing. Causing fertility issues in the local children. My own city wasn’t bombed during the war, thank goodness, but others weren’t as lucky. Montreal’s missile interception system was sabotaged right before the first volleys went out. There were a good six years where being anywhere near the St. Lawrence River would see you damaged beyond repair. Even today, after heroes drained away most of the radiation, you might see stories of children being born without arms or legs. Without eyes.”
“(Gnome) me Sully! What the (Gnome) is wrong with your world!?”
“Hey! Don’t pin this on us! I’ve been talking and most of the people in the Warehouse know what radiation is. What do you think happened to Jacob’s world? Or to Monique’s? Or this one for that matter?”
“Actually, it was the biological weapons that did us in. Not radiation.” Monique corrected. “Most places weren’t irradiated by bombs, since the modern ones don’t release as much as the old ones did. Besides, its relatively easy to deal with radiation compared to zombies.”
‘Tell that to Jacob.’ I thought. Imagining he’d have quite a few words for her if he happened to hear.
“Okay. Okay. No use in arguing. Let’s focus on solutions. Charlie, do you think you could absorb the radiation that the fireflies are putting out?”
“No!? I don’t even know what this radiation is!? The ability takes a lot of Psy you know! Like 5 to 10 per second! I can’t maintain that for as long as we’re here! Also, I have two points on the power. That’s it. How do you know it’ll be enough?”
I blinked, focusing on him so that his status came up.
Name:
Charlie Soot
Psy:
540/555
Type:
Enhancer Level 46 / Projector Level 45
Enhancer Abilities:
[Enhanced Strength] 3 / [Enhanced Dexterity] 5 / [Enhanced Constitution] 3 / [Enhanced Stamina] 3 / [Enhanced Agility] 5 / [Enhanced Toughness] 2 / [Enhanced Reflexes] 5 / [Enhanced Concentration] 5 / [Enhanced Recovery] 3 / [Enhanced Vision] 5 / [Enhanced Flexibility] 3 / [Enhanced Hearing] 3 / [Enhanced Balance] 3 / [Enhanced Training] 5 / [Enhanced Respiration] 5 / [Enhanced Digestion] 2 / [Enhanced Circulation] 3 / [Sudden Strength] 2 / [Sudden Dexterity] 3 / [Sudden Constitution] 2 / [Sudden Agility] 3 / [Sudden Toughness] 2 / [Sudden Reflexes] 2 / [Sudden Concentration] 4 / [Sudden Recovery] 1
Projector Abilities
[Force Bubble] 3 / [Force Wall] 3 / [Force Bolt] 1 / [Accelerate] 5 / [Decelerate] 5 / [Local Regression] 3 / [Local Progression] 3 / [Local Stop] 3 / [Absorb Heat] 2 / [Absorb Radiation] 2 / [Absorb Kinetic] 2 / [Absorb Sound] 2 / [Resonance] 3 /
Ability Points:
0
‘If he uses up 10 Psy per second, that leaves roughly 54 seconds of cleansing. Twice that if he’s exaggerating. Not a problem in and of itself since I can keep him going with [Team Spirit]. The real issue is the low ability level. There’s no telling how much of the radiation he’s cleaning.’
That’s when I clapped. Feeling like an idiot for forgetting.
“Its fine everybody. We can rely on Cherub instead. He’s got a Tier two version of the ability that also happens to be level 15.” I turned to my sword. “Hey Slasher, can you let Cherub out?”
‘Mnnn. I don’t like it. I want to see gnomes. I haven’t had one in so long.’ Slasher spoke. Her feminine voice sizzling from the quivering edge of the blade at my hip. Her words had a profound effect on the others, as they were thick with the power of [Friendship].
“Yes. Gnomes. Must kill more. Must eat gnomes. Blood flowing. Must flow.” Boris babbled. A line of drool forming and falling down his lower lip as he stared at the weapon with wide eyes.
I flared [Suppression] and snapped my fingers in front of his face.
“Hey, don’t go losing your mind now. And you.” I turned to Slasher.
“Keep your whispers away from my friends. In fact, no more whispering unless I specifically ask you to.”
‘But daaaad.’
“Don’t but dad me young lady. Do as I say or you go in the ring from now on.”
‘Hehe. You got scolded.’ Cherub chirruped.
“Don’t make fun of your sister now Cherub. Get out here and work with us to clean the path forward.”
‘But I already, did it?’
I paused. We all did.
“What, uh, do you mean you already did it.” Slab asked. His voice trembling slightly.
‘This whole place was filled with bad light. The kind that could hurt you guys since you were made of matter. I drank it when we arrived and I’ve been drinking it this whole time. There was a lot of it. But I could handle it since I can do it without using up Psy. Because I’m made of good light and emotions!’
I nodded.
“Very good. I’m proud of you Cherub.”
He giggled in that faint juvenile voice. Completely at odds with the destructive power he could unleash.
I turned to the others.
“I guess we have a plan now. Make our way over to the Alps while Cherub does his clean-up routine on the way. I’ll be channeling [Unstable Reality] along the way to give Cherub and extra oomph so he covers a wider area. We can destroy the monster’s spawning grounds and rid France of contaminants in one fell swoop. The people are safe and they can even wander to the surface without their eyes melting in their sockets. Double heroics on our part. Monique, you’ll be in charge of teleporting.”
“No, I can’t.” Monique cut in. “My current range is far less than that of [Sense Thoughts] and taking multiple people drains my Psy much faster than I can replenish it. It takes seven hours to drive from Paris to the Alps. It’ll take us twice that to get there without accounting for breaks or the cooldowns I’ll be going through.”
I looked at Monique. Wondering how to break the news to her without sounding like an (Gnome).
Thankfully, Borislav was there to do it on my behalf.
“Yes. We could do that. Or, hear me out. We could run there. Only teleporting every now and then.”
“Run? Were you not listening to me? It’s a seven-hour drive. Me and Kenny used to go there for our holidays.”
“I can imagine you two had fun.” He said drily. “What I’m saying is that we should run because running will be much faster than driving. Especially with gravity being weakened or inverted by your own self. I know, for a fact, that I can outrun the kinds of jeeps the warlords’ troops used back home. Slab can certainly do so as well and Charlie can leave us both in the dust. Dusty, she might be even faster due to being on the second Tier. The only ones who need transportation are you and Sully.”
“I call Sully!” Dusty pipped up.
Slab nodded.
“Sounds like a solid plan. Monique, I can carry you on my back. Use your abilities to continuously affect gravity. Sully can replenish your Psy using [Team Spirit]. If all goes well, we should make it there in half the time.”